STORIES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW

I

A CHILD’S DREAM OF A STAR

There was once a child, and he strolled about a good
deal, and thought of a number of things. He had
a sister, who was a child too, and his constant companion.
These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered
at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the
height and blueness of the sky; they wondered at the
depth of the bright water; they wondered at the goodness
and the power of God who made the lovely world.

They used to say to one another, sometimes, supposing
all the children upon earth were to die, would the
flowers, and the water, and the sky be sorry?
They believed they would be sorry. For, said they,
the buds are the children of the flowers, and the
little playful streams that gambol down the hill-sides
are the children of the water; and the smallest bright
specks playing at hide and seek in the sky all night,
must surely be the children of the stars; and they
would all be grieved to see their playmates, the children
of men, no more.

There was one clear shining star that used to come
out in the sky before the rest, near the church spire,
above the graves. It was larger and more beautiful,
they thought, than all the others, and every night
they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window.
Whoever saw it first cried out, “I see the star!”
And often they cried out both together, knowing so
well when it would rise, and where. So they grew
to be such friends with it, that, before lying down
in their beds, they always looked out once again,
to bid it good-night; and when they were turning round
to sleep, they used to say, “God bless the star!”

But while she was still very young, oh very, very
young, the sister drooped, and came to be so weak
that she could no longer stand in the window at night;
and then the child looked sadly out by himself, and
when he saw the star, turned round and said to the
patient pale face on the bed, “I see the star!”
and then a smile would come upon the face, and a little
weak voice used to say, “God bless my brother
and the star!”